HI PAMum, I tried to post a message on the weekend but as you know the site was down. What I had wanted to say at the time was, Wow what a great job you have done. Thank you so much for posting your concerns when you did, and for contacting CFIA right away, and letting us all know about the experience. We are all safer because of your actions! I think you said your dd was diagnosed 1 month ago...and I just want to congratulate you on trusting your instincts, because in the world of food allergies, instincts will take you far. So, thanks, and "great job mommy!".
It sounds like you are pretty upset right now, and I can certainly appreciate that. I don't know what to tell you about that...but, I'm sure every single person on this site can recite more than one story that still brings them to feelings of outrage or to tears. We have likely all been in situations that left us with our jaws-dropped, and your situation is *definitely* in that category. Feel free to vent, everyone needs to vent once in a while.
I am fairly new to this world to, (ds diagnosed 10-mo ago), and I feel like I'm just getting a handle on it now. I recently connected with some other FA parents in my area, and feel better meeting others face-to-face. Somehow it's comforting to think my kid might go to school with their kid, etc. You might try to find a support group or other parents through friends.
Other posters, I haven't read every post on this thread, but I don't recall anyone saying anything offensive when PAMum posted her initial concern. I think everyone was just trying to offer suggestions, could it be this, could it be that. That's what we're here for, to support and to share information.
I'm very very interested to hear how Nestle will explain the contamination. For now, I personally am trying to stay open-minded and hope this will be a learning experience. For manufacturers. I have a feeling Nestle will start changing their labels to 'allergy-aware'.

If anything I said made this any more difficult for you, I want to apologize. I don't think I said anything offensive, but if anything sounded offensive to you I am sorry.

You don't need to apologize, AnnaMarie, I wasn't offended at all. All of you were trying to be helpful in identifying the source. It make sense to bypass "peanut free" product because they should be peanut free.

At the end of the day, the most important thing here is to get these products off the shelves and find the reason for this mishap and rectify the problem.

Here's another concern. I happened to be in IGA today and thought to see if they had taken action to the recall. Right away I saw those packages on the rack and I looked at the batch number at the back and they were 5180xxxx. I freaked out right away and the asst. manager happened to be around and I brought it to his attention. He told me right away that they had taken action but will quickly go to retrieve the recall paper at the back to verify. So on the recall, it mentioned "These bars are known to have been sold in a 247g "Nestle Fav*rites" package of assorted peanut free snack size bars". And clearing there were no "Nestle Favourite" on the shelf. Now, the one I was holding in my hand was in fact a 330g Kit Kat package, so it was fine. But there were also 330g "coffee crisp" ones beside it, but because it wasn't stated on that recall, I just apologize for being over-reacted and left with peace.

After I got home, I wanted to read the recall carefully myself. It actually says "These individual coffee crisp bars may have also been sold as part of other snack size bar packages." But which other kind? The 330g "coffee crisp" with the same batch number should have also been pulled off the shelf. I'll go down later again to actually open one up to check the individual ones to make sure. But if the numbers on the outside is 5180xxxx, the chances is that the inside would be the same. I think CFIA and Nestle should have been more clear about this. They know exactly which package these coffee crisps were sold in, why not just list them all? instead, they want you to figure it out yourself. I am very mad, if they are doing a recall, do it right!!!!!

I recently connected with some other FA parents in my area, and feel better meeting others face-to-face. Somehow it's comforting to think my kid might go to school with their kid, etc. You might try to find a support group or other parents through friends.

Catherine, it's great to hear that you are able to meet with others in the same situation. I will certainly look that up. I have to mention that so far, I don't know anybody with FA, but one of my neighbours has been very supportive. She even suggested me to give a copy of the recall to the YMCA childcare. I printed it and we went down to the Y together and spoke to the childcare director today. She appreciated the information very much.

Right now, I am just trying to spread the words as much as I can and hope that nobody will get a reaction unneccessarily.

I have always had an issue with the confusing Nestle packaging. It's great they are (were) able to provide peanut-free bars. But, it's very difficult to figure out. There are some KitKat/Aero/CoffeeCrisp/Smarties which have a peanut WARNING on them. Not to mention, the Peanut WARNING and Peanut-FREE logos are pretty similar looking. Both in that same yellow and red colour. How is a little kid, or maybe their grandpa, supposed to know the difference?

Plus I feel the snack-size peanut-free should say peanut-free right on the little box, not just on the 247g bag they come in. We're trying to teach our kids to double-check and read every label, and here's a label, on the little box, which they have to take our word for. It's really not the message the Allergy/Anaphylaxis organizations are trying to spread, that is, in how to prepare your kids to never take things for granted, always check the label.
Anyway it's probably all for nothing now.

PAmum, are you going to address your concerns about the recall-confusion with Nestle or CFIA?

AC is going to keep abreast of this case and will facilitate any forthcoming communication from Nestle. They agree that Nestle needs to provide an explanation and describe what has been done to rectify the situation. K.

Karen -- I was just wondering if you knew how quickly Nestle is expected to provide answers in this case? Could we be waiting weeks, or months (or longer)?

I have contacted numerous media(this was couple of weeks back), but nobody seems to be interested in this story, probably because dd did not die from it. Although a piece of plastic in a Cadbury chocolate egg is more news-worthy. I have given up hope of spreading this news other than from my mouth or typing hands.

CFIA will not be releasing anymore info because this has become private information under the law. However, we can certainly request for information if you pay $5.

Nestle is not telling much either probably because they don't know the cause yet. I have a feeling they never will.... When I asked about why the coffee crisps with the same batch number being in other packages not being on the recall list, I was told in a broken record that all the affected products has been taken off the shelves.

I have contacted numerous media(this was couple of weeks back), but nobody seems to be interested in this story, probably because dd did not die from it.

It is too bad that it takes something really drastic for it to be a "story." But I for one will be telling this story to friends and family (not that I want to be too hard on Nestle since we're not sure what happened yet, but it might help people to understand why we need to eat with epis by our side!) Thanks for keeping us updated!

I agree with Lisa. This incident should just reinforce the need to always have access to medication. I would just like Nestle to tell us that they have found what the problem was and that it has been rectified. I don't need the details. I would not like Nestle to decide it is too difficult to maintain peanut/nut-free facilities and have them back away from providing a readliy available source of treats that is well-known in the general population.

On the one hand, Nestle does actively support people with food allergies. They even used to provide free guides to allergens in foods at the Specialty Food Shop at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. In Canada they are *the* card-carrying allergen aware company. Or at least that is the image they are trying to project. I have to admit I am cynical.....I'm not convinced that their stance regarding food allergies = altruism and true concern. They did decide to go nut free after appeals from parents and children with PA, but at some level, it is probably a marketing strategy. Nonetheless, they are serious about it. This incident is a wake up call---it warns us against putting absolute trust in any company. It is good for people who are PA to keep this in mind when buying Nestle products---if I were PA mom I would not want to buy Nestle chocolate again. But I don't think Nestle products are actually more unsafe than any other peanut free product...I would guess that after this incident there will be redoubled vigilance. (Although I suspect that it would be easier for smaller companies with fewer employees to guarantee 'peanut free'.) It would be bad for the PA community if Nestle were to decide that they can no longer attempt to be peanut free.

On the other hand (and this is where a lot of my cynicism comes from) Nestle does *not* have a reputation for being overly concerned about people's health. In spite of the World Health Organization's prohibition on advertising baby formulas in poor countries where mixing dried milk with bacteria laden water is the direct cause of infant deaths, Nestle continued to engage in shady marketing practices. INFACT Canada is still calling for a boycott of Nestle products. http://www.infactcanada.ca/Nestle_Boycott.htm

for more info on this, see the New internationalist website (there is a *long* history behind this--the first NI article is from 1978):
http://www.newint.org/ (you can do a search for "nestle"

this from the infactcanada website:

Quote:

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF about 1.5 million babies die every year because they were not breastfed. In many parts of the world, not breastfeeding means the difference between life and death. Where water is unsafe, preparing formula means exposing children to the harmful bacteria found in untreated water. This causes many infants to become infected with bacterial diseases, the most feared of which is diarrhoea, which yearly leads to dehydration and death for thousands of infants. Many more millions suffer from infectious diseases and malnutrition, never reaching their full potential because they were not breastfed.

Quote:

Despite the fact that Nestlé has promised to comply with the WHO Marketing Code, the company disposes of large quantities of free formulas to maternity hospitals and birthing centres, distributes free formula to pregnant women and new mothers, misinforms about infant feeding, and tries to entice health care workers with enducements and gifts.

It may be that the decision to produce nut free chocolate and the decision to continue with come from different places (the company is huge..only Nestle Canada produces peanut free chocolate products...it is difficult to see where individual responsibility lies in these situations...). But still, even if I could eat Nestle chocolate, I wouldn't feel good about it in the same way that I feel good about shopping at the Specialty Food Shop or at farmer's markets....

AC is going to keep abreast of this case and will facilitate any forthcoming communication from Nestle. They agree that Nestle needs to provide an explanation and describe what has been done to rectify the situation. K.

Karen -- I was just wondering if you knew how quickly Nestle is expected to provide answers in this case? Could we be waiting weeks, or months (or longer)?

ethansmom - I don't have an answer right now but I'm looking into it. Last year, with Fleischmann's (when there was milk in their milk-free margarine), I think we were told a few weeks after the initial problem. We were never really told what had happened, just that they had taken steps to make sure it didn't happen again.

but it might help people to understand why we need to eat with epis by our side!

Lisa, I couldn't agree with you more that epis are very important. BTW, you are very insightful. I had no idea about the baby formulas. That is too sad.

yakkie wrote:

I would just like Nestle to tell us that they have found what the problem was and that it has been rectified. I don't need the details.

Maybe you don't care because it didn't happen to you. But I DO, because it happened to my beloved daughter. It shouldn't have happened and I would like to find out exactly what happened, if possible of course. I am not demanding the unreasonable, only the truth. If a company is commited to produce peanut/nut free product, it should be peanut/nut free, otherwise, what's the point? I am not saying it's definitly their fault, some, including myself speculate that this could be an act of sabotage. In that case, I would like to know who it was and what consequence was followed. But if it was an operational error, it would be Nestle's responsibilty to do some "detalied explanation" and they better correct the mistake accordingly.

yakkie wrote:

I would not like Nestle to decide it is too difficult to maintain peanut/nut-free facilities and have them back away from providing a readliy available source of treats that is well-known in the general population.

As for whether this incident will make them change their mind on continuing making these "save" chocolate bars, I, of course would not want that to happen. Afterall, I applaud them for doing this in the first place regardless of their intention. These chocolate bars did shed some light at the end of tunnel when we first found out about dd's allergy. But this particular mistake(luckily wasn't fatal!) also dim the light, at least for now. However, if they find difficulties in maintaining a peanut/nut free facilities, how confident will you be with these products? That being said, I doubt big companies like Nestle will stop their production all together due to incidents like this. They will only re-enforce their policies and do better. They know the market is there and that's the most important. This has been clearly shown back in 2001 when they tried to cut this peanut/nut free production. They changed their mind because of the overwhelming complaints of consumers.

I will continue to do what I have been doing, that is to find out the truth. I will continue to keep people informed(this forum and anyone I know) if any products are potentially dangerous to any of us with allergies. I am by no means trying to bring down this company nor to make them withdraw from making these chocolate bars. I just want closure.

when aaron was first diagnosed, I relied heavily on Nestles (huge chocolate addictions in our family!!!!) and I felt very warm and fuzzy about them. I really felt like they cared about kids. My kid. When he couldn't have whateveryone else was having, he could always have Smarties, I decorated cupcakes and cakes with smarties (huge cake addictions, too.) I dipped one end in chocolate and painted on chocolate to turn them into little ladybugs, we did smartie math. When they said that they were no longer going to have peanut free smarties I was devastated. I phoned them all the time, trying to convince them. I thought that they could cater to allergic individuals because the schools were asking to limit consumption of peanut products. When they reconsidered, I felt like, as a consumer, they had listened to me. Now I see them as just in it for the money. The thought of new peanut smarties makes me sick, it's not even an original idea - M&M's did it already. It feels like a betrayal, which I know is irrational, really I do...but after all the time I was so loyal to that chocolate bar...I think I need to go to chocolate councilling. I know I'll find another chocolate bar (Flake comes to mind), but my innocence is lost. With this new development (contamination that PAmum discovered - gratitude to you, PAmum ) I am spending my chocolate money elsewhere!!

I am really grateful to the companies that support us like Chapman's and Dare. They are both family companies and I think that makes a difference.

I have felt really badly since I had my last rant (see above). I think I was inappropriate and maybe even unfair. Certainly a little strange!! I do appreciate all the things Nestle has in place, and some commitment is better than none, so I would like to apologize. I attended an event that Nestle sponsored over the weekend, and it ws great and I learned so much, I feel I must eat my words, if not my chocolate

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